Despite how gentle and understanding Aldous has proven to be, my nerves still sing as I follow him into the ritual circle.

His robes aren't sheer like mine, but as he sheds them in a swift movement, I realize he's completely naked underneath.

I can't not look. I've seen a few naked men in my life, but nothing like this. Nothing like him.

Gods, he is beautiful. It's like every ridge of his sculpted body is carved just for me.

I'm pretty sure my heart is going to pound right out of my chest. I should be afraid. I should be quivering in fear at the weapon of mass destruction between his legs, but I'm not.

He's magnificent, and my wolf wants me to roll over on my back and submit. She's a drooling, whimpering mess, and this is completely foreign to me.

Before now, the only man I've ever been comfortable being close to is Ellis, but we were only ever close in a friendly way despite his want for more. He's never tried to kiss me or—gods—seduce me.

And any of the other times I've been close with a man...well, it had been built on fear and power imbalance. Because I'm nothing but an omega.

Except now, I'm an omega about to be married to an alpha.

An alpha who is respecting my boundaries.

Boundaries that threaten to quake and shatter, sooner rather than later.

One of the wolves shifts, revealing an older woman with shimmering silver hair in a series of braids down her back. She stands at the edge of the circle of flowers, in front of the brick cabin, and spreads her arms.

I don't understand the words coming out of her mouth. It sounds like a guttural singing almost, probably old ancestral languages, maybe even specific to their pack bloodline.

Aldous steps forward and takes my hands, and the wolves begin to growl. It's more like a low hum, but gives a growling undertone to the woman's chanting.

I've never seen this kind of ritual before. Never felt magic like this before.

What is happening to me?

Humans might view werewolves as inherently magic, if they knew about us. Wolves that can wear human skins.

Maybe I take that for granted, the magic of what we are and what we can do.

It never occurred to me that we can do more.

Because this is...this is something else.

Aldous raises our hands, pressing my palms against his chest and holding them there. I can feel his heart as if its my own, pulsing through my body to sync with my own thundering beat.

"I choose thee, my mate, my heart." His voice is loud and regal and clear. "I protect thee, my wife, my wolf."

The words thrum through me, my veins singing with power, and I'm locked in his gaze. My wolf is at peace, for the first time in our entire life.

Aldous leans down, embracing my body in his strong arms, nuzzling his face into my hair. "Mine," he whispers, and I'm falling.

The world disappears then, as if we've flown away from it all. No wolves, no chanting woman, no circle of flowers.

He's holding my body against his chest, bridal style, and I snake my arms around his neck. Somewhere inside of us, our wolves dance and play, the souls of our animal natures intertwined forever.

Forever.

Aldous hovers over my lips, and we're on a bed, somehow, the world has returned and we're in the brick cabin. It's cozy in here, with a roaring fire, and the bed is massive with silken sheets and sheer curtains hanging from the four-poster canopy.

Everything feels lush and soft and gorgeous, and he's so close to me.

He's still naked, and the only thing separating our flesh is my barely-there robe.

He hasn't kissed me yet, but I can feel his breath on my lips. He's giving me space to feel, to get used to it, to want it, and his care makes me want it even more.

I thread my fingers into his long, thick hair, and pull him down to me.

My body is aflame as his mouth massages mine, his soft lips delicious as they explore me. We draw breath through our noses at the same time, drinking each other's scents, his earthy mingling with my floral, a musk rising between us that is proof of another want, another need.

He has the grace not to comment on such things, taking his time with my mouth. He cradles my body in his hands, not groping, not moving to open my robe. The control he has over himself, his body, his wolf...it's heady. It's amazing.

I can feel the frenzy inside of him, the arousal driving him completely mad, but outwardly he has perfect control of himself, and that makes me grow even hotter.

He swallows my moan, responding with one of his own, and his rock-hard body is against mine, and I want out of my robe. I want to be skin-on-skin, I need it more than breathing.

"Please, I..." The words come out of my mouth, but I don't even know how to ask for what I want. My body needs him in a way I can't even articulate properly.

His kisses move down my throat, across my collarbone, pausing at the top of my robe. As much as I don't want to stop threading my fingers in his gorgeous hair, I need this damn robe off, and I work at the various ties until there is enough room to wriggle my shoulders out of the garment.

"Allow me," Aldous whispers, his voice a gravelly husk that vibrates deep in my belly. His hands ghost over me, taking the fabric with agonizing slowness and drawing it down my chest. He stops at my nipples, teasing there, my pebbled flesh straining against the sheer mesh for attention.

My back arches, and he chuckles darkly, because he knows what he's doing to me, gods, he knows, he knows I'm aching for him. He captures a nipple in his mouth, through the mesh, and stars explode behind my eyes at the contact, then he pulls the fabric free, and finally we're skin-on-skin, at least from the waist up, and he's holding me like I'm precious, kissing and licking and sucking at my needy breasts like ambrosia.

Like he needs me to live.

Lower, he drags his tongue down the slope of my belly, reaching the robe once again, this time bunched over my pelvis.

Somewhere deep in the back of my mind I think I should be afraid, I think how if any other man were this close to such an intimate part of me I would be frozen, but this is my mate. My wolf trusts his wolf completely. I know he's not going to hurt me. I know he's going to cherish me, protect me, just like he vowed to.

He pauses, kissing along my belly, staring up at me with his beautiful green eyes. "May I?" he asks.

I nod, and I can't take my gaze off of him as he gently tugs the robe from my legs. I expect him to crawl up my body, settle between my legs, but instead he leans his face back down, kissing the inside of my thigh.

Electricity shoots to my core, and realize what he means to do, and the heat is almost unbearable, and his tongue slides over my clit and I can't keep from shrieking, my muscles so tight and gods it feels so good and he holds my thighs, presenting my swollen desperate flesh to his mouth, where he devours me like he's starving, and it doesn't take long before I spasm, vision going white, pleasure exploding through my body like wildfire, screaming my release because this is new, this is something I've never felt before, and he lets me ride it out, drawing every bit of pleasure from my center.

When I fall limp, gasping for breath, he moves up my body with languid kisses, tasting the sheen of sweat all over my flushed skin.

I want to say something, but all that comes out of my mouth is a ragged, breathy moan, and he chuckles when he reaches my lips. He kisses me, and I can taste myself, my musk, my arousal, my orgasm, and it's so filthy and so hot at the same time.

"I want you inside me," I whisper, and I didn't mean to say it, I didn't think I could say it, but I mean it, feel it with every fibre of my being.

He brushes hair from my face, cups my cheek gently with his massive, strong hand. "Are you sure?" he asks, and I can hear the strain in his voice, hear him holding back from ripping into me.

"Yes," I breathe, "please."

He pushes into me almost before the word is finished leaving my mouth, so slow, stretching me around him, and it's a lot but I'm so wet and he fits so perfectly inside of me. When he's fully sheathed, he pauses, kissing my forehead, my mouth, my cheeks, cradling my upper body against him as he lets me adjust to him.

"Are you alright?" he asks, hand on my hip, and he's trembling, as if it's taking all of his self control not to pound into me.

I curl my legs around him, threading my fingers back into his hair. "Take me, my lord," I moan, and he gives in.